LEARNING ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS NO LONGER AN OPTION

 At a recent meeting with one of my business mentors one of the lessons that I picked was that it was business unusual. Why is this the case? Look at how organizations that were funded by the United States government were affected by the reduction in funding. With an increase in population and an educated workforce, we have to devise better and more effective ways of combatting youth unemployment. Statistics reveal that Uganda's universities churn out over 400,000 university students per year amidst a job creation rate of 90,000 formal jobs. The question is where do the rest go?

On a good note Uganda has been credited as one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world. The question is, how are we harnessing this entrepreneurship potential? How comes that Uganda is not dominating the list of countries with the biggest companies? When we move through Kampala we are able to see very hard working and enterprising women in their microenterprises. The Uganda National Business Development framework of 2024 showed that over 90% of the economy is dominated by Micro Small and Medium Enterprises. However these face various structural challenges such as access to finance and weak operational systems. 

The above shows us that various development stakeholders have to come up with strategies to build the capacity of the young enterprises since they are the backbone of the economy. As a Master Trainer of Bank of Uganda, I have been privileged to interact with various youths in relation to their plans for enterprise development but I have discovered that many are apologetic about their entrepreneurial ambitions. They need to be encouraged to dream big and it is not a crime to set up a business. 

For so long Uganda's education system designed its products to cram and pass as a yardstick for success in  the world. Today we have graduates who measure their potential by the academic grades on the transcript. Iam not trying to undermine the fact that education plays a critical role in shaping our destinies. What Iam trying to point out is that entrepreneurship should be demystified so that we see more Ugandans setting up big businesses. How come an Indian can come to Uganda with almost nothing and by the end of the year he or she has a big supermarket?

For us to transform Uganda into a better country, we need to shift the mindsets of the youths who form the majority in the country in job creators  by promoting their individual enterprises so that they do not collapse before their first birthday.

HOW TO PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN UGANDA 

1. Promote entrepreneurship development among schools

2.Provide seed and patient capital to entrepreneurs

3.Recognise successful entrepreneurs

4.Promote family businesses

5.Extend free financial literacy trainings in communities

By and large Uganda is an enterprising country. However there are a number of structural barriers to to enterprise development that requires proactive solutions from development stakeholders.


Phillip Kiryowa

Certified Personal Finance Coach

Master Trainer Bank of Uganda

Advanced Empowerment Link

+256752615916


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